The Setup

When the iPhone launched in 2007, most of the business world dismissed it as a consumer toy. After waiting in line to get the first phone, my partner and I were blown away by the UX and the compute capabilities. To us, it represented a rare opportunity to define a new genre of application powered by this transformational platform.

We founded our company in January 2008 (3 months before the announcement of the iOS SDK, and the App Store), hired a handful of young developers from the iPhone jail-break community, and began re-imaging data visualization from a mobile-first perspective.

My Role

Co-Founder & Head of Product (Promoted to CEO by BOD in 2014)

• Conceptualized and designed the initial version of the product.

• Designed and patented multiple novel mobile UX concepts, including visualization paradigms for small screens and the first on-device columnar calculation engine.

• Partnered directly with CIOs and senior executives, pitching the vision and helping close seven-figure enterprise deals.

• Scaled/led product strategy, product management, UX design, user research, and product marketing teams until 2014 when I was promoted to CEO.

• Handled PR, media appearances, public speaking events, and trade shows.

• Member of the BOD, and led fund-raising efforts along with Co-founding CEO

The Product

Re-imagined The BI Experience for Mobile
Roambi was comprised of a series of “Views”, which were pre-designed, interactive applications that guided users through data step by step rather than flooding their screen with numbers. Initially a solution for the iPhone’s small screen, users loved them so much that they preferred them regardless of what device they were on, driving adoption on iPads and eventually desktops.

Offline Performance
Enabled zero-latency access by downloading datasets directly to devices, making Roambi usable even on early EDGE networks and in offline scenarios. This always-available data access removed one of the biggest obstacles to mobile work, creating a seamless experience in a way web-based competitors couldn’t match.

Enterprise Trust
Delivered patented security controls like remote wipe, expiring data, and SSO before mobile device management was mainstream. These features reassured CIOs and compliance teams, shortening security reviews and accelerating sales cycles across the Fortune 500.

Patented Innovation
Built the first on-device columnar calculation engine, enabling ad-hoc analytics on datasets up to 50GB, and secured five additional patents for mobile-first UX concepts. This advanced Roambi beyond a companion app, positioning it as a standalone analytics platform capable of handling enterprise-scale use cases.

Strategic Positioning
Integrated seamlessly with SAP, Oracle, and IBM BI systems, initially positioning Roambi as an add-on that extended their value rather than replacing them. This strategy accelerated sales cycles and turned would-be competitors into partners, giving Roambi distribution and credibility far beyond what a startup could have achieved alone.

Results and Impact

• Customers included Apple, Nike, L’Oréal, Pfizer, Barclays, Airbnb, and dozens more across retail, pharma, banking, and tech.

• Large customers deployed up to +20k internal users, with engagement rates of over 90%

• 3M+ app downloads with a 4.9 App Store rating.

• Regularly featured by Apple: In the App Store (Best In Business), at WWDC, on Apple.com, and was pre-installed on demo devices in Apple Stores worldwide.

• Six consecutive years of 100%+ ARR growth.

• Multiple awards for design and productivity.

• Acquired by SAP in 2016.

• Alumni went on to leadership roles at Apple, Google, Salesforce, Slack, Amazon, and more.

Looking Back

Roambi began as a bet on a device most of the industry ignored. It grew into a platform that changed how companies and their people engaged with data. The innovations we pioneered, became part of the foundation for how enterprise software adapted to the mobile era and was a poster child for the “consumerization” of business software.

Beyond the success of the product, the journey of building a company from 0-1, scaling it, and navigating all the challenges that we overcame made Roambi the most educational, humbling, rewarding experience of my career. But nothing was more rewarding than the culture we built inside of the company.